Speakers to address New Deal and poverty

Two public lectures will be held in conjunction with the Undergraduate Research Conference on Liberty and the American Tradition.

The Manuel H. Johnson Center for Political Economy will be hosting the research conference and has invited two keynote speakers to give lectures on April 16 and 17.

Burt W. Folsom, a professor of history at Hillsdale College and the historian-in-residence at the Foundation for Economic Education, will be giving his lecture titled “Was the New Deal a Raw Deal?”

Folsom will be discussing the history behind the New Deal and the economic consequences involved.

John A. Dove, a professor of economics at Troy, said, “Folsom’s talk is important because a lot of what we saw during the New Deal, which was a response to the Great Depression, and what we are seeing today in a number of policy responses from both the Bush and Obama administrations in response to the financial crisis of 2007-2008 are similar.”

Folsom’s lecture will be held on April 16 at 6 p.m. in Bibb Graves Room 129.

Lawrence W. Reed, president of the Foundation for Economic Education, will be giving a lecture titled “Presidents and Poverty: Wisdom from 19th Century American Chief Executives.”

Reed’s lecture will focus on how presidents through U.S. history, especially during the 19th century, addressed the issue of poverty.

“Issues of poverty are always important,” Dove said. “This is especially the case given some of the recent talks and arguments that have been put forth regarding things like income inequality in the U.S., whether or not it’s a problem and what we should do about those issues.”

Reed’s lecture will be held on April 17 at 9 a.m. in Bibb Graves Room 129.

Both lectures are free and open to the public.

“These lectures will give us historical context to learn what was done in the past to alleviate these economic problems, how some of those actions might be adopted today and how they compare and contrast with what we see today,” Dove said.

For more information on these lectures or the research conference, call 334-808-6582 or email johnsoncenterevents@troy.edu.